Rail wars? Russia ponders new railroad-based missile systems

Plans are underway to create combat railway-based missile systems designed to give Russia a more flexible means of defense.

­The system consists of a train with two or three diesel locomotives and specialized railcars, which look like refrigerator or passenger railcars, but carry intercontinental ballistic missiles, together with command posts, Col. Vadim Koval, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman for the Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN)the Russian Defense Ministry, told reporters.

Although the last railway-based missile unit was decommissioned almost a decade ago, the system is getting a second look as a means of protecting Russia’s vast landmass as global threats become more diversified.

"A final decision, however, has not been taken on the issue," Koval added.

The idea of using railroads to move around missiles is not new. Koval noted that the first unit of railway-based missile systems was put on combat duty in Kostroma in October 1987, and removed from service in 2005.

However, with the nature of warfare changing and the global situation increasingly volatile and unpredictable, military leaders argue it may be a good time to give some versatility to Russia’s missile defenses.

Meanwhile, Russia is looking for ways to counter the US missile defense system, which is being deployed in Eastern Europe. Despite Moscow’s warning that the technology has the potential to spark a new arms race, US and NATO officials remain adamant and refuse to cooperate with Russia. Washington has even rejected Moscow’s request to provide it with legal assurances that the system will never be activated against Russian territory.

Railway-based missile systems are designed for use along special military patrol routes, as well as railway lines used by the public.

Formerly, three missile divisions – near Kostroma, Krasnoyarsk and Perm – were deployed. Employing 12 trains, the system transported 36 missiles, each with 10 nuclear warheads.

Russian military experts say that with technological advances made in missile technology, the use of railroad-based systems could be an effective means of protecting Russia.

Russia and Iran: Heading for divorce court?

Relations between Moscow and Tehran are strained over Russia's decision to cancel a missile defense delivery.

Unless Tehran retracts its lawsuit over Moscow's refusal to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Russia will take a tougher stand on the Iranian nuclear issue, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday.

"We have already made it clear to Iran that lawsuits are not helping the development of our relations,” the newspaper quoted a Russian presidential administration source as saying. “But our requests to retract these documents from court went unnoticed."

Moscow is prepared to stop supporting Tehran over its nuclear program, he said.

"Prior to the next session of the six international mediators, we will try to make our position heard once again by sending a government delegation to Tehran,” the Kremlin official told Kommersant. “And if Iran once again refuses to do so, it will have to sort out its nuclear issues in the international arena on its own."

Last year, Russia-Iran relations hit the skids when Iranian Ambassador to Russia Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi announced that Tehran had filed a suit against Russia with an international court over the latter’s refusal to supply Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems.

Moscow reacted with surprise at the announcement.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said it was "impossible" for Russia to reverse its decision due to a resolution by the UN Security Council.

"Russia's implementation of the contract is impossible due to adopted resolution 1929 of the UN Security Council and presidential decree 1154… which defines the procedure for its implementation," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, EU Foreign Policy Chief Baroness Catherine Ashton said last week that the next stage of negotiations addressing the Iranian nuclear program would be held in late August.

Vienna is expected to play host to talks between Iranian officials and representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency Secretariat, a source close to the IAEA Secretariat told the newspaper.

Experts say the meeting between the Group of Six world powers and Iran may be Tehran’s last chance to come clean over its nuclear program, which several countries, including Israel and the United States, say is a cover for a nuclear weapons program.

Commenting on the Kremlin sources’ statement, Sergey Demidenko, an analyst from the Institute of Strategic Evaluation and Analysis, said this was Russia’s way of sending a strong signal to Iran.

“We are showing to Iran that we have powers, that we have the leverage to control the situation and, in particular, to put pressure on Tehran,” he told RIA Novosti.

Demidenko believes the two sides will manage to resolve the dispute over the S-300 contract in an extrajudicial proceeding.

“Eventually, they will come to an agreement,” he said. “It’s not a key issue in our relations with Iran. Work in Bushehr (where Russian specialists helped in the construction of the nuclear power plant) is a lot more important, since there remains the prospect for Russia to be admitted into Iranian gas projects.”

According to Georgy Mirsky, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow was concerned that if the Islamic Republic got the S-300 missile systems, President Ahmadinejad would have his hands untied to develop a nuclear bomb.

Russia’s refusal to ship the system to Tehran “was an absolutely correct and timely step,” Mirsky stressed, adding that the decision may have helped to halt a military conflict between Iran and Israel.

“Israel will not sit and wait till one day it is announced that Iran has held underground nuclear testing,” he said.

The US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has said it has no evidence that Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon at this time. Nevertheless, Israel has warned that “all options are on the table” unless Iran fully cooperate with IAEA inspectors, something it has failed to do thus far.

Meanwhile, much of the rancor between Moscow and Tehran seems to have a lot to do with the amount of financial damages that Iran is seeking from Russia.

According to the Iranians, they are not responsible for what appears to be an inflated sum.

The Iranian Ambassador to Russia told the Izvestia newspaper that Tehran is looking to recover US$900 million dollars from Russia, not $4 billion as reported.

Ambassador Sajjadi explained the extra $3 billion was a “punishment for Russia” that was added by the Geneva Court of Arbitration "without the knowledge of the Iranian side and against its will."

Analysts say that such a significant increase in the size of the claim, however, would have been impossible to levy without Iran’s knowledge

Russia will continue to supply weapons to Syria by contracts

In keeping with its contractual obligations, Russia will continue to supply Syria with arms and military hardware, including anti-aircraft defense systems, a top Russian official in charge of military-technical cooperation has told reporters.

“Russia has its obligations to Syria under contracts that had been previously signed,” Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, the head of the Military Technical Cooperation service, told reporters at the Farnborough air show.

Dzirkaln also mentioned contracts related to the “delivery of anti-aircraft weapons,” as well as helicopters serviced in Russia.

These contracts have been fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled, he said, while adding that Russia is exploring how to fulfil its obligations to Syria “without causing damage to ourselves and without (attracting) provocation from other forces interested in this.”

The official stressed that Russia’s military contacts with the Syrian government are strictly related to defensive weapons.

“We are supplying arms and hardware of a purely defensive nature,” he said. “It cannot be said that we have introduced an embargo on military supplies to Syria.”

Dzirkaln also told reporters that currently there are no Russian military specialists working with the Syrian Army.

Russian specialists are working only at the Russian Navy logistics center in Tartus, he said.

'Foreign policy does not imply isolationism’ – Putin

Russia's President Vladimir Putin addresses Russian ambassadors during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry headquarters, with black ribbons attached to the Russian national flags, in the background, in Moscow, July 9, 2012

In an address to Russia’s diplomat corps, President Vladimir Putin touched upon a number of issues, including Russia’s image abroad, US plans for missile defense, and the deadly flood that struck Russia’s southwest on Sunday.

In discussing the global economic situation, Putin warned on the depth of the crisis and the lack of strategies to confront it.

"It should be recognized that no reliable options for overcoming the global economic crisis are in sight,” he stated. “The debt troubles of the Euro zone which is gradually sliding into recession is just the tip of an iceberg of unresolved systemic problems faced by the global economy."

Putin provided a stinging rebuke of “the West’s” handling of the economic crisis, which, he says, has “eroded” the leadership roles of major western powers, including that of the United States.

"The deficit of new development models against the background of eroding leadership of traditional economic locomotives such as the United States, the European Union and Japan is slowing down the dynamics of global economy,” Putin emphasized.

Meanwhile, the increasing quest for decreasing energy resources is leading to market confusion.

“The ongoing struggle for access to resources has intensified, provoking fluctuations in mineral commodities and energy markets," he added.

This convulsion is pushing western governments into prescribing what Putin describes as a “bombs and missile democracy” around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, which is grappling with fallout from the so-called Arab Spring.

Putin said it was crucial that the global community avoids a repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria.

“The tragic developments in Libya indisputably stand before our eyes and undoubtedly their repetition should not be permitted in other countries, for instance, in Syria," he said.

We see how contradictory and imbalanced the reform process in North Africa and the Middle East is, he added.

“Russia will remain independent”

Meanwhile, in the face of the multiple global challenges, Russian foreign policy does not imply isolation but integration in the international environment, Putin said.

"The foreign policy of Russia was, is and will remain independent; it is consistent, retains continuity and reflects a unique role that has evolved over centuries that this country plays in world affairs and in the advancement of civilization," the Russian leader said.

"It has nothing to do with isolationism or confrontation and implies integration in global processes."

One step toward integrating Russia more closely into global processes is to cancel visa formalities with the European Union, Putin advised, saying that any rapprochement between Russia and the European Union "is impossible without such tasks as easier visa formalities."

"Russia is ready for such step now," he stressed.

At the same time, Putin said Russia's image is distorted abroad and does not reflect the actual situation in the country.

"We must acknowledge at this point that Russia's image abroad is mostly shaped by others, not us. Therefore, it is distorted and does not reflect the actual situation in the country, or its role in global civilization, science and culture," Putin said.

One of the factors affecting Russia’s image abroad has to do with the Russian language, one of the official languages in the United Nations, which, according to Putin, is “not being fully implemented.”

US-Russian relations

In direct comments regarding Russia-US relationship, Putin said it was important to maintain an open line of dialogue between Moscow and Washington. This is especially important given the present challenges facing the global community.

"Given Russia and the United States' status as major nuclear powers, the solution of many of the global and regional problems depends on them, of course,” he stressed.

Trust, he added, is paramount in this bilateral relationship.

“In times when problems arise in international affairs,” he said, “constant and trustful dialogue between them acquires additional importance."

Putin delivered his comments on an official day of mourning following devastating floods that claimed over 170 lives in Russia’s Krasnodar region. Putin demanded special attention be given to the victims of the tragedy.

"The Russian Ministry of Regional Development should carefully inspect all households jointly with the regional authorities, the Ministry for Emergency Situations and the Interior Ministry," Putin told a conference of Russian ambassadors and mission heads at the Foreign Ministry. "It's going to be difficult to live in these houses now; they will have to be rebuilt.”

The Russian leader paid special attention to the plight of the children who were on vacation in the region.

“All the children should be taken out to recreation camps where they could rest and recover themselves," he advised.

Finland will lose ‘sovereignty’ if joins NATO - Putin

Saying that Finland will surrender its right to act independently in the event it joins the western military alliance, Putin added that Moscow will respond to deployment of any NATO attack missiles based in the Nordic country.
 
"The involvement of any country in a military bloc deprives it of a certain degree of sovereignty, and some decisions are made at a different level," the Russian president said at a meeting on Friday with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. (SW:  Little Adolf Bonaparte Putin attempts to bully Finland. We in the West are terrified of the little man LMAO)
 
He compared the situation with what has transpired in the bureaucratic realm concerning Finland’s visa regime.
 
"The same has occurred over the question of visas, where part of Finland's sovereignty is handed over to the European Union,” the Russian leader noted.
 
Putin then discussed the threat of Finland militarizing itself under NATO supervision, warning that if “the deployment of attack missiles is approved, Russia will take retaliatory measures.”
 
The Russian President then asked rhetorically if Russia and Finland really needed such a volatile situation.
 
“If NATO decides to deploy missile systems, Russia will take retaliatory measures," Putin told reporters after talks with Niinsto. "Russia's retaliatory measures will be guaranteed. But what would we need that for?"
 
Washington’s determination to construct a missile defense system along Russia’s border in Eastern Europe, and without the participation of Russia, has rocked the so-called reset, threatening to spark another arms race between the two former Cold War rivals.
 
NATO’s relations with Finland, which shares a lengthy border with Russia, are conducted through the Partnership for Peace framework, which Finland joined in 1994.
 
According to the western alliance’s website, NATO and Finland actively cooperate on peace and security operations and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas.
 
Meanwhile, the Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said earlier this month at an event organized by Finland's National Defence Courses Association at the University of Helsinki that cooperation between Finland and NATO threatens Russian security.
 
"Cooperation between Finland and NATO threatens Russia's security,” stressed Makarov. “Finland should not be desirous of NATO membership, rather it should preferably have tighter military cooperation with Russia."